Review: Green Rider (Green Rider #1) by Kristen Britain

Title: Green Rider

Series: #1 Green Rider

Author: Kristen Britain

Publisher: Gollancz

ISBN: 978 0 575 09985 2

 I came across this series when I picked up the fourth book a while ago.  While the summary on the back of the book peaked my interest, the main reason I bought it was because of the gorgeous cover. Only when I arrived home and looked the author up on Goodreads, I learnt that is was part of a series that was not yet completed. The fifth book is scheduled to be released in May 2014. I bought the three preceding books and eagerly started reading the first one.

The first couple of pages made me doubt about Green Rider. The protagonist was a girl at the end of her teenage years. The exact age is not mentioned. I prepared myself for another young adult fantasy book filled with love and typical strong females. I was positively surprised. There was not much love to be found and while Karigan was not a very original character, I really liked her. Her motives were interesting and her spunk is admirable. 

Source: Google Images

Karigan meets quite a lot of characters on her journey and every single one of them is interesting. They really bring the story to life and add a great touch of realism to it, even though it still remains fantasy. Through the secondary characters, Britain adds themes top the story that we deal with in our lives as well. One of the minor characters leads a group that questions monarchy. Living in a country where we still have a king, recently a new one came to the throne; I have question it as well. It made the story that more interesting. I hope this group, and other characters, will get more page time in the next books

The horses in the book were wonderful. Karigan’s horse is one of my favourite characters. Many fantasy writers do not put enough effort in researching horses and their behaviour, Britain did a wonderful job here. While Karrigan’s horse is a special horse, smarter than most, he still felt very real: he showed he was afraid of certain things, he was stubborn and could not keep going without proper food and rest at unbelievable speed for ridiculously long distances. 

What made this book stand out from all the other fantasy books I have read were not the characters, but the skilfully crafted plot. Everything was tied together. How the chain of events started and its outcome, are very ironic actually. A small, seemingly unimportant event can lead to something much bigger and more influential on a higher scale. Also throughout the whole story, a wonderful metaphor is used to reflect on what is happening: a board game.  I absolutely enjoyed this concept and it almost want to make me do something similar in my writing. The board game intrigued me. It is definitely words its name, Intrigue. 

The writing is fast paced and reads very easily. I had no problem getting absorbed into the world. There was just enough description to paint and imagine in my mind while I still had room to use my own imagination to complete it.  While the book left me with some questions, it could easily be a standalone novel. I am curious what will happen in the second part, but unfortunately it has not arrived yet. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Life is full of experiences that can changes us or our views on something. Sometimes in a positive way, other times it is more negative. But we never forget these experiences. Reading The Fault in our Stars was such an experience for me.

I won't tell a lot about the the contents of the book. The only thing you might want to know is that it is about a girl called Hazel who suffers from cancer. The book offers us a view into a part of her life wherein she explored; and now I will quote the blurb, 'the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and falling in love.' It sounds very cheesy, but the book is all but cheesy. I bought the book after seeing and reading very passionate reviews about it. I actually felt like I was the only person who had not read it yet. I wanted to know what made it so remarkable and why it appeared time and time again in best books lists.

Now I know why. I started to read the book only yesterday. The book is narrated by Hazel through a first person perspective. Normally I am not so keen to read books in that perspective because I have the feeling it creates a distance between the reader and the narrating character, but this was so wonderfully done that I had no problem to relate to Hazel even though what she was experiencing was alien to me.

I absolutely love John Green's writing. I was immediately pulled into the story and could not get wholly out of it until I finished it. I have to admit that I was scared to read it. Scared that it was going to end badly but me not finishing it, was not an option. I enjoyed the whole book. The story is fast paced and reads very fluently. It is filled with interesting thoughts and good humour to lighten up the mood. The book is filled with so many different emotions, which are brilliantly brought to page, that I felt like I was riding the emotional roller-coaster together with the characters. I enjoyed this from the very first sentence until the very last.

While I have heard the name John Green before, I never read any of his books until now. I will, however, read all his other books as well because I want to know if they are just as good. If they are, J.K. Rowling might be knocked of the my-favourite-author-position by Mr. Green.

Review: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Here you can find more information about the story itself. Now on with the review!

Northern Lights, or also known as The Golden Compass because of the film, is the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I picked it up because I really enjoyed watching the film. When I started it a couple of months back, I found that I didn't like Lyra as much as I wanted to. She actually annoyed me so after about 60 pages I put the book down and started reading something else. A couple of days ago I decided to try and read it again and I managed to finish it despite the fact that I'm still not a big fan of Lyra. In the beginning of the book she is just an annoying brat but when the plot takes shape, the emphasis on her rebellious character lessens a bit and made it easier for me to accept her.

The book pulls you straight in. Together with Lyra we hear about something call Dust but it is not entirely clear what exactly it is. We just get enough information to peak our interested and to realise that it might play a very important part in the book. While it is immediately clear that the story takes place in an alternate version of our world, I wasn't quite sure how advanced their technology was. Cars were mentioned, but also Zeppelins and some other advanced sounding technology. Not exactly knowing this, leaves a lot of room for imagination which I enjoyed.

The book is beautifully written and Pullman does a great job with descriptions and setting the mood of scenes. The author knows how much he can can describe without making the passage utterly. The way he describes the northern lights is hereof a good example. He makes it seems as if it the most beautiful thing we can witness on earth without exaggerating. What I disliked about the book was the presence of the omniscient narrator. While he mostly stayed in the background, he dared to come forward and showed us a small glimpse of what was still to come to add suspense. It really annoyed me because I feel that the added suspense is otiose. Luckily it does not happen often.

The best thing about the books are the daemons, an animal that never leaves your side. Every human has them and they represent the human soul. I absolutely love that concept and I would like to have a deamon myself. I think mine might be some kind of bird. What I do wonder is if a daemon can be a large animal as well like a rhino or an elephant. It does not seem every practical to me. If someone has an idea about this, please let me know!

While I could go on quite a while about this book, I will end my review here with giving the book a 3 out of 5.

Review: Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I never heard of this book until it was announced that Emma Watson was going to star in the film. After seeing the film, which was really good, I wanted to read it! It still took me about half a year to buy it and actually start reading. I have to say that I was disappointed that I knew what was going to happen. I couldn't stop reading it nonetheless. I felt such a bond with Charlie, the narrator of the story. I could recognise myself in him. I must confess that I really love him. For those who do not know what the book is about, here is the summary: 

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

source: www.goodreads.com

The story is told by letters Charlie has written. Normally I do not like those kind of stories a lot, but the way the are written is so amazing. It reads so easily! It has a colourful cast of very likeable characters. I didn't dislike a single one of them.  The pacing is very fast which is great but I sometimes have the feeling that certain events deserve a bit more attention. Seeing that these are letters written by Charlie, a plausible explanation would be that he did not think them as important or interesting as I did. Charlie is supposed to be 15/16 years old during the book but I find that quite hard to believe. He might be very smart, but the way he handles things and how he writes, make him seem a couple of years older. That did, however, not ruin the book for me. This is actually a book I would recommend everyone to read, unless you really don't like stories about teenagers. I give this book a well deserved 5/5.

source: google images

Review: The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin

It was the cover and the title that caused me to buy the book. The summary on the back of the book was very promising as well. Unfortunately, the book isn’t as good as I had hoped. The story is filled with clichés and the characters aren’t so great either. 

 I found a summary of the book on Goodreads.com. It is a little different from the back of my book though:

The comfortable world of Martris Drayke, second son of King Bricen of Margolan, is shattered when his older half-brother, Jared, and Jared's dark mage, Foor Arontala, kill the king and seize the throne. Tris is the only surviving member of the royal family aside from Jared the traitor. Tris flees with three friends: Soterius, captain of the guard; Carroway, the court's master bard; and Harrtuck, a member of the royal guard. Tris harbors a deep secret. In a land where spirits walk openly and influence the affairs of the living, he suspects he may be the mage heir to the power of his grandmother, Bava K'aa, once the greatest sorceress of her age. Such magic would make Tris a Summoner, the rarest of magic gifts, capable of arbitrating between the living and the dead.

 The book pulled me in from the very beginning. The world in which the story takes place is really interesting and the learning curve isn’t too steep. I liked Martin’s writing style: it’s very fluent and she describes just enough of the world and the characters. While the plot is loaded with clichés and I already have an idea how the story is going to end, I am still curious about the other books. What annoyed me endlessly about the story was that there barely was a break from the action. The action sequences followed one another up in a very high tempo. It was as though I was reading a video game.

   The characters were very stereotypical and flat. Only one actually developed a bit during the story and there was only one character I really started to like when the story progressed. What is nice in the story, are the different points of views you get. It is really interesting to see what certain characters think of the situation.

  I have to conclude by saying that this novel feels more like a Young Adult story then a mature fantasy story. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be quite a disappointment when it’s in the rack with the other fantasy books. I would give this book 2.5 out of 5.  

source: www.google.com